As the baton passed from Ronald Reagan to George Bush, TV
news reporters were passing judgment on the Reagan years. A MediaWatch
Study reveals these network assessments reflected the liberal
view of Reagan's legacy. Echoing liberals, network reporters
conceded Reagan's popularity, praised his communications skills
and applauded his relations with the Soviets. They also blamed
Reagan, not congressional spending, for the budget deficit, and
they held Reagan, not the Democratic-controlled city
governments, responsible for urban problems such as homelessness.

At the same time, they ignored or tried to discredit those
aspects of the Reagan legacy most celebrated by conservatives:
the rebuilding of the American economy (especially ending the
inflationary spiral), the reform of the federal courts through
conservative appointments, the implementation of the Reagan doctrine and
buildup of the military.

MediaWatch analyzed all seven ABC, CBS and NBC stories reviewing Reagan's years in office. These included one on ABC's World News Tonight, two aired by the CBS Evening News, and one on NBC Nightly News
and Sam Donaldson's recap of the Reagan years, aired by ABC as an
introduction to David Brinkley's December 22 interview with the
President as well as retrospectives on CBS' Sunday Morning and NBC's Sunday Today.

The improved economy was counted as an achievement for Reagan
six times, but he got blamed for its supposed shortcomings on
16 occasions, almost three times more often. In addition, the
administration received blamed for the deficit another 11 times.
Reporters gave short shrift to aspects of the Reagan years
conservatives admire. A stronger defense was portrayed neutrally on
three occasions, just once as an admirable achievement. Only two
reports bothered to include mention of the dramatic change in
the makeup of the federal bench.

ABC: Sam Donaldson portrayed the improved economy as
more of an accident than anything planned. He impugned Reagan
for neglecting the homeless and for policies toward blacks that
"seemed particularly onerous, particularly when it came to his
conservative appointments to the Supreme Court." In foreign
affairs Donaldson noted the Grenada invasion, but he credited
changes in Soviet behavior to "something" that "happened: a new
Soviet leader named Gorbachev," not the U.S. military build-up.

The night after Reagan's January 11 farewell address Richard
Threlkeld gave the President credit for one policy achievement,
"peace abroad." As for the economic recovery Threlkeld undercut
the accomplishment, telling viewers "things are not nearly as
prosperous as the President makes them sound," charging that "on
average, more new jobs were created every year under Jimmy
Carter than Ronald Reagan."

CBS: Terence Smith spent 13 minutes on the January 8 Sunday Morning analyzing impact. Two of his three sources were Washington Post
columnist Haynes Johnson, who told viewers Reagan has
"mortgaged the country's future," and "historian" Bill
Leuchtenberg, who announced that "even the situation with
respect to unemployment...the situation there has been
improved...because of the large increase in dead-end jobs."
Smith did not identify either as liberals. Smith traveled to a
state unemployment office where "the reviews were uniformly
harsh" and charged that "the number of Americans living beneath
the poverty line reached new heights during the Reagan era,"
though conceding "poor families benefitted from sharply reduced
inflation." Smith also interviewed Pat Buchanan, clearly
identifying him as a "conservative supporter," but didn't let
Buchanan counter any of the earlier economic doom and gloom. In fact,
Johnson and Leuchtenberg got a full three minutes of air time in
ten appearances, while Buchanan, in four appearances, got just
over a minute to defend Reagan.

NBC: On January 20, the day Reagan left office, John
Chancellor signaled it "is clearly time for a change." To
Chancellor, during eight years of Reagan, "the country's
competitors got richer and the United States got poorer."

On Sunday Today January 16 Garrick Utley praised
Reagan how he "changed his thinking about the Soviet Union, and
our world is a safer place for it." Turning to domestic affairs,
Utley charged "when Ronald Reagan came to Washington, he in
effect told the nation that it could take a vacation from
troubling problems, that it was all right not to worry about the
poor, about race, the homeless, or debt."

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